TN65 Sharp interview questions

First published on this website in April 2012 and last updated in March 2024

Synopsis

These notes provide a wide range of questions that can be asked or adapted at staff selection interviews.

Starter questions
Twelve ideas are given for areas to explore with two or three questions you can ask for each. All are designed to provide helpful information about the candidates. Some are straightforward but others are more off the wall: asking candidates how an honest friend might sum them up in a reference for the post, or where they feel they have failed in their present role, or what would scare them most if they were offered the job.

Supplementary questions
But the real information comes out in responses to supplementaries, most of which cannot be prepared in advance. There are ideas for ensuring primary questions are answered, moving the interview on, setting case studies, challenging supposed knowledge, and more.

A formal interview can be a pretty blunt instrument in a selection process but following these ideas could sharpen everything up.

These notes were updated in March 2024 with minor amendments to the text and layout.